Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jared Acker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jared thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My wife, Jenn, who is the Program Director of Craft for Community and I were traveling through Central America in our mid 20’s for 6 months. We had never visited Nicaragua before and had just spent a month or two in Costa Rica and Panama studying Spanish. As soon as we crossed the border into Nicaragua we fell in love. What was supposed to be a two week stopover in Nicaragua turned into three months. The people were as warm as any we had met on all of our travels in Asia, the Americas and Europe. The natural beauty of the land was breathtaking, volcanos, lakes, beaches, colonial cities, at every turn. On a random trip to a rural, small fishing village called El Transito we got stuck in a big rainstorm and took cover under a palm-thatched lean-to with 6 or 7 fishermen who had just spent the night on the ocean. For the next two hours, we exchanged stories, listened to their experiences, laughed and ate fresh fish and rice with them. We had that moment that you see in movies, where we looked at eachother and we both knew at that moment that El Transito was where we wanted to be.

Jared, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My two passions in life have always been education and travel. I have been a bilingual elementary school teacher for over 13 years and have a principal license as well. I have worked predominantly with Spanish-speaking students and their families supporting them on their educational journeys ensuring they have equitable access to resources and curriculum. I also love to travel and try to experience as many new cultures as possible because I really believe as humans that we learn so much when we expose ourselves to different people, languages, and cultures.

That’s really how Craft for Community was born. We wanted to provide travelers, whether that is student groups, teachers, families, friends, colleagues, faith-based groups, an opportunity to visit a beautiful country with the most amazing people, but do so in a meaningful, sustainable way that connects the travelers to their host communities. I’m really proud of the work we have done and the hundreds of guests that have come through our sleepy little village and made meaningful connections with the locals and their environment. Watching high school students study Spanish with a community partner, then take a cooking class with the local chef in the village, followed by painting a mural at the local Arts Center makes it all worthwhile. Guests at Craft for Community are exposed to a new and very different culture and participate in activities that allow them to learn about and from their hosts. They also get to eat amazing local fresh food, sleep at our lodge right on the beach, learn to surf, horseback ride, and take advantage of all the other amazing tourist activities that Nicaragua offers.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve learned that sustainable adventure travel isn’t for everyone and I really try and reach out to people who are like-minded in what they want for their travel experiences. Nicaragua is a developing country and although our beachside lodge has wifi and air conditioning, a lot of people in our village do not have anything close to that. The fact the village is so small means the interactions with the locals in the village are authentic and everyone is family. There are no resorts, hotels, or private pools in El Transito, it’s just a hard-working fishing village that happens to sit on a stunning bay, with idyllic waves and green hills all around it. El Transito is developing year by year and one day there may be a resort, but for right now we enjoy the simplistic living and try to reach out to other like-minded people who yearn for something more meaningful than a vacation at an all-inclusive resort where you have very limited interactions with the local community you are visiting. There’s no right or wrong way to travel, but finding people who think like you do in terms of what type of travel you want is key.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started this project 8 years ago, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to combine education and travel and make it meaningful in a place like Nicaragua. In the first year, I quickly realized that the lessons we learn in graduate school, or teacher prep courses cannot adequately prepare us for living and working in a country that is very different than your own. It was such an eye-opening experience to live and work in Nicaragua, understanding their culture, their customs, and the way they interact with one another. It’s very different than the mindset we have in the United States. Time moves much slower in Nicaragua, people spend more time connecting with one another. I quickly learned that I essentially had to start with a blank canvas and build everything I know off of the experiences I was having assimilating into Nicaraguan culture and our small community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.craftforcommunity.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/craftforcommunity
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/craftforcommunity

Image Credits
Eric Hampton